The hard-drinking former ball player-turned-exterminator and children’s coach at the center of Linklater’s baseball remake is memorable thanks to Billy Bob Thornton, who bundles his own tics with the guy’s bad impulses to create a likeable rogue.
29. Amy, “Tape”
Uma Thurman‘s Amy is the object of discussion for much of the one-room psychodrama “Tape,” the focus of two men who had very different relationships with her a decade prior, but once she arrives in the film’s latter half, she’s immediately the most vibrant and fascinating person in the room.
28. Randall Floyd, “Dazed and Confused”
Close in some ways to the lead dreamer in “Waking Life,” this high school football star ponders his place in the social order and the world at large as he lopes easily through social circles thanks to his good looks and easy charm.
27. Summer Hathaway, “School of Rock”
Assigned as a groupie when Dewey Finn hands out band roles to his students, Miranda Cosgrove‘s Summer rightly rejects the afterthought gig. She takes the plum role of band manager instead, and works it to the hilt with a combination of entitlement and keen business sense.
26. Sylvia, “Fast Food Nation”
After illegally immigrating to the US, Sylvia (Catalina Sandino Moreno) finds her life spiralling out of control due to limited work options and her husband’s own problems. Hers is the most complete and tragic story, even if Sylvia, like all the film’s characters, barely gets a chance to establish her presence thanks to the film’s fractured structure.
25. Orson Welles, “Me and Orson Welles”
The film may be stuck in second gear, but as Orson Welles, Christian McKay is convincingly charismatic and frame-filling as a premiere talent (and ego) of American theater, radio and cinema. The part captures Welles’ uncanny power to sway people to act in his own interest.
24. Sooze, “SubUrbia”
Seemingly the only resident of this fictional Texas town whose ambitions are still alive, Sooze’s (Amie Cary) artistic feminism is nascent but sincere. She’s so ready to get out of town that Sooze is in danger of being taken for a ride, but there’s no one more vibrantly optimistic in this bleak film.
23. McReynolds, “Everybody Wants Some!!”
Pitcher-hating Glen McReynolds is the sexual alpha of the baseball team at a Texas college, obsessed with winning in every circumstance — and captivated by his own ass. Thanks to the believable leadership qualities of Tyler Hoechlin, he’s more than just a blowhard.
22. Willoughby, “Everybody Wants Some!!”
He’s probably not as wise as he’d like to claim, but next to some of the other baseball players this beardo stoner is Socrates. The music fiend, played by Wyatt Russell, has secrets (don’t we all?) but at least he’s not a loudmouth who worships his own ass.
21. Samantha, “Boyhood”
Samantha gets to veer off in her own direction as “Boyhood” focuses on her brother Mason, and the performance by the director’s own daughter Lorelei Linklater is so unerringly on point that we often want the camera to linger on her evolving personality just a little longer.